A professor of Communication at Kennesaw State University, Farooq Kperogi, has urged Nigeria's opposition parties to set aside self-interest and division if they hope to challenge President Bola Tinubu in 2027. He made the call at a seminar organised by the Department of Political Science, Lagos State University, Ojo.
Speaking on the theme, 'Opposition Politics and the 2027 Election in Nigeria', the public affairs commentator and popular columnist said the opposition today is plagued by internal dissension, greed and strategic miscalculation. He added that its failure to present a common front by rallying behind a single candidate may yet prove its undoing.
He said that although many Nigerians are angry with some policies of the government, anger alone is not enough to win an election. The opposition must instrumentalise such perceptions into something electorally meaningful. He added that he was yet to see any leading members of the opposition present a blueprint for turning the country's economy around.
Kperogi argued that the conditions for defeating the incumbent already exist in widespread frustration and failed economic policies, but opposition figures have yet to harness them effectively. 'If Tinubu wins, it won't be because he wins — it will be because the opposition loses,' he said, adding that unity around a single candidate, as seen in 2015, could dramatically change the outcome.
He said, 'If all the opposition elements were to unite like they did, like the current government did in 2015, around one person, the possible deniability for him to say, well, this does not exist, it would be a massive landslide at this point. But because they don't have that, I don't think it's going to happen.'
He said Nigeria needs to adapt the democracy it wants to practise, noting that the presidential system, like the American model the country adopted, should grow organically out of its unique social and historical experiences.
